Over the past few decades, the world seems to have gotten much smaller, making it easier to travel abroad to foreign places. Because of this, it’s common to have people of many different cultures and traditions living in the same place. Has this diffusion of backgrounds weakened the impact culture has on an individual?

Culture can play a major role in a person’s life – dictating what they eat, wear, the religion they practice, or the holidays they celebrate. It is passed down for generations and can give a person a sense of comfort. In today’s society, there’s a large mixture of cultures and ideas present in one place. Because of that, tradition is not as influential as it once was. In the past, the majority of people seemed to stick to their own traditions. Although this may sound like a negative thing, the weakening of cultural impact has also given us a sense of respect and tolerance for other cultures. In some cases, this could lead to finding out about a new perspective or way of life that could change your own traditions.

Cultures today are more openly mixed. People are not afraid to try new things or believe in new ideas. The power that your own background has on your life may not be as strong as past generations, but because of that, you may be more open to accepting other ideas.

There’s no doubt that culture still plays a major role in people’s lives. Your background dictates the holidays you celebrate and the traditional food you eat, which should often be accepted and embraced. Culture in today’s society still holds many different values, even with the mixture combining of backgrounds. Something that is the norm in one culture may be extremely odd to another. You may find the Italian Christmas tradition of “La Befana” somewhat weird, as a flying witch named La Befana fills children’s shoes with candy and fruit in search of the baby Jesus. On the other hand, people of different cultures may find the American tradition of trick-or-treating strange.  On any other night, parents would never want their children to talk to strangers, let alone knock on their door and ask for food.

However, some cultures still face prejudice and are looked down upon as outside the norm. It is our job as a society to try our best to look past cultural differences in order to find new perspectives, or, at least, understand another cultural point of view. Hopefully in the future, cultural differences will be completely embraced as we all hold a meaningful understanding of others’ ways of life, ultimately propelling us forward as a society.